Old Homestead

Last Harvest Monday shot from the old homestead.  Really nice looking leek and red onion. I am thinking the leek to be an inch and a half thick.

Cabbage: Leek : Onion : Carrots

Need a better camera. Spices.

Ok, So here is what I was working with. I do hope there is an asian/Indian Market somewhere in your respective villages. :)

MDH Baingan mix box : Coriander, salt, dry mango, cumin, red chili, pomegranate seeds, musk melon, fenugreek leaves, black pepper, mint leaves, dry ginger, cardamom, amomum sees, nutmeg, cloves, cassia, mace ( I would suggest simply buying the mix unless you happen to have access to all of that stuff. It's not cheating.... its just spices premixed right? )

The other bags are cumin, coriander (powders) and mustard seeds. 

Here we go : Chopped up the tomatoes of your choice. maybe a cup or two. Your choice on this. Nothing wrong with yummy tomatoes. Depending on how many potatoes you want, chopped them into small chunks. Too many potatoes means less saucy dish. Having to add liquid etc. Take your eggplants and chopped them up into cubes as well. Dice up a medium onion to the size you enjoy in dishes.

All the amounts of tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant are relative to how much you wish to eat etc. You can tweak the amount of spices later on if you think you needed more or less because of how much you added.

Take the potatoes and boil them in a different pan. I think it works best to get them to a firm state just before you would make mashed potatoes. That way you do not have to wait forever trying to cook them in the sauce. Instead you can let them mix at the end. 

In a pan, pour a bit of oil in then add the mustard seeds. Hmm, maybe a pinch or two? ~ half teaspoon? They add flavor, however, too many and they become bitter.

Toss in a teaspoon of the cumin, coriander. I'd prolly use a table spoon or two of the Baingan Mix.

Heat that in the oil for a minute or so with the onion You just want to bring out the flavors in the spices. Please do not burn your spices! ;) It would be yuck at that point. *eek almost forgot to add that you should add a dollop of mince/chopped/grated ginger to this as well!*

Then add in your chopped tomatoes and one of those small cans of tomato sauce. I add a bit of water to it as well to bring it to a saucy consistency. At this point it is basically similar to making a marinara. 

Cover it and let it reduce down a bit. As the tomatoes break down, use your 'stir stick' to mash the chunks down to more of a chunky mashed tomato. What you are looking for is the point at which the oil starts to separate from the sauce and pool on the top. 

Then you can add your eggplant to it. If you wish, you can saute the eggplant a bit prior to adding it. It tastes great that way as well, or you can just toss it into the sauce, cover it up and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes while it breaks down. 

Somewhere along the lines here the potatoes reach a point of being 'al dente' ie firm enough to add to the sauce and eat (breaks apart in your mouth) but is neither mash potatoes nor a brick. 

Once you get to that point toss them into the sauce (I'd wait till after the eggplant is cooked) Mix it up well. If it is too dry for your tastes, add a bit more water, if saucy then good to go. :)

Aloo bindi tastes great over fragrant basmati rice or as a dish alone with bread. For ease, if you do not have naan then just toss a buttered tortilla in a pan and heat it up until it just turns golden, fold it over a couple times and toss onto the side of the plate with a heaping mess of the aloo bindi in the center!

That should do the trick!

Ingredients : Cumin/Coriander/Mustard ETC

MDH Brand 'Baingan Bharta' Spices

Long days of summer.

Note : As delicious as Okra is when it gets to six plus inches, it is much better to pick them at half that. Although both sizes are perfect for straight off the plant fresh eating.

First Bells with First Okra (Friday)

Second Okra with First Tomato (Monday)

436 Grams of First Eggplant (Baingan Bharta)(Tuesday)

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! Cloud's Rain Dance

We got rain, Jane, Granny, 1st, Jenny, Jody, Kris, Lynda, Dorothy, et al! It didn't last long, but it was wonderful indeed!

This is one happy Atheist gardener!

Video # 24 Harvest - Onion

Onions Fell Down - Harvest

Due to a majority of the onions falling over there was a big onion harvest today. Go figure it is monday. :) Would rather they be in the soil fattening up, but as they didn't wish to do anymore of it. Here it is. 1 lb 9 ounces of greens and 5 lbs 3 ounces of bulbs. These are all Jumbo sweets from the store bought sets. The other varieties from seed are still going strong. I wonder if this has anything to do with it. Namely the jumbos thought they were older than they actually are. Perhaps it is a mis-representation aka lack in truth of advertisement. ('jumbo' sweets) ;)

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Breakfast

This mornings home-made breakfast. Consisting of several garden pickings. It is a yukon gold hash with green onions. Topped with parsley. Sauteed kale with mushrooms using a wild mushroom infused olive oil and lemon infused vinegar. Sliced tomato. Radish. Side of oranges and a hot cup of PG tips with cream and sugar.

Things from the garden :

Red Russian and Curly Kale, Radishes, Green Onions, and Parsley.

Sometimes you just feel like making breakfast worth being eaten.

Could It be?

Last night I was rummaging through the previous videos. I am happy with the decision to create this blog and video accompaniment. It gives a means to check back on how things are progressing. In the case of potatoes and a few other items...very well indeed. Also one could think it can be used for information concerning following years. I am a bit leery on that idea somewhat. Namely, it's my deep sense that next year may actually be a winter year. Seems highly un-likely that we will be able to get away with planting out mid february again. Alright. Yes. We could just get off our bums to build a few DIY poly-tunnels. *shrugs*

There was just so much to do! Speaking of that. Now that the majority of things are filling out it really does not feel like there will be much work left to do to maintain it all.

Here's to front loading a bunch of work in the down time! .... and Michigan weather allowing me to do just that!

In an earlier posting it was mentioned that a few solanums might have been sacrificed along the way.... If and only if the last of winter depths this evening doesn't put the nail in.... Those decimated two-foot tall (planted the stems deep) polish linguista and Brandywines are going to come back! The baren-lifeless stalks are sprouting leaves. :) Who knew?

Leaf Sprouts on the lower Right

Sprouting on the Lower Half

This is the onion bed. It is in here because I find it a gorgeous sight!

OK. The above photo is the onion bed. A mixture of leek, amposta, stutts (grown from seed), and the jumbo sweets from sets. 9 plants wide and (from a counting inside through the window) 19 long. 171 onions? I'm sure there is around 30 left in a flat in the backyard. What do we need 200 onions for???

side note : Planted the raspberry and blueberry bushes today. ;)

Harvest Monday - Fancy Pants Salad Bowls

Big warm hello to all fellow Blogger Gardeners!

The primary reason for the blogging is to give a means of charting along the progression of it all. Looking out from the Sun-room I can see the potatoes have grown half a foot in the last two weeks. The bed once covered in soil is now growing awash in shoot greenery. The first bed of wheat has sent up shoots as well. Smiling as I am crouching down on the small path between the beds. Observing first hand the 3 inch shoots sneaking past the leafy mulch used to confuse wildlife. Appears to have worked. ;) Brushing away the leafy layer of another bed shows beans happily working their way free of their huge beany shells. Here's to hoping that the hidden corn is working on doing the same.

The Yard lettuce was getting to the point of being able to pick a bit. Not to say we have not been grazing for a week or two... There was one plant of Mizuna that was getting out of control. It had dinner salad written all over it. Here thinking it would be a small side bowl, nonetheless became a whole salad bags worth. V informed me during picking that today was Harvest monday and that we should take a few photos to mark the occasion.

Lucky for you all, in my reminded state, we did just that. :)

This is a mixture of Red Russian, Mizuna, Red romain, Green lettuce, spicy leaves of mystery, onion leaves, cilantro, italian parsley, spinach, oak leaf, radish sprouts, and several various other ones I have no clue about. :)

Fanciest bowl of greens we have had to date. Minus the dressing, the appeal of less than 100 foot food is strong! According to the shopper of the household this would be a big bag of salad mix worth $4.00. :) I feel it was worth a bit more personally, but I'm biased of my green children.

5 bowls worth 4-23

5 bowls worth 4-23

5 bowls worth 4-23

Berry Balsamic Vinegrette

Berry Balsamic & Pine Nuts